Closer Look: Sentry-2 Fan Controller

Ok, let's take a look at the NZXT Sentry 2 touch screen fan controller, and see if it's a dramatic improvement of its predecessors.

The Sentry 2 arrived to me in the tiniest of boxes. Full color artwork with simple product images and brief but clear descriptions of the features and capabilities of the unit. No unnecessary battle axe wielding scantily clad women here. Just clean and clear marketing.

As you can see the Sentry 2 is quite small. It's face roughly the size of any CD/DVD ROM panel and it too only takes up a single external 5.25" drive bay. This may be important to some mid/micro tower or HTPC chassis users with limited external bays. The Sentry 2 has an attractive layout but like with most LED/LCD readouts the numbers are hard to read at angles. Minor complaint.

The Sentry 2 is also quite shallow. This will allow the unit to be installed in any unused external 5.25" drive bay. Using only the front most mounting holes in the 5.25" external drive bays. Keep in mind this will not work with most if any tool-less/screw-less drive mechanisms. This is not to say you can't use the unit, you will just need to use two screws per side to hold it in. Most computer chassis made today do allow the optional use of screws in their tool-less/screw-less designs so most should have no worries. The Sentry 2 has a very intuitive layout and design. I had the unit installed and up and running, using about 95% of the features without a hitch. It's a good thing too because the included instructions are basically worthless.

Made of plastic composite it blends nicely with the typical black DVD-ROM drives. I do like the aluminum of the Sentry LX but as this will go into my Spedo Advance the black plastic goes fine with the steel mesh. Not as strong as the aluminum but when this type of accessory is made out of aluminum, it's usually more about matching a case than strength. Some manufacturers do use the aluminum as a heatsink as well, so only time will tell if the plastic truly holds up. I'm sure the use of anodized aluminum would add to the cost but with such a techie looking product already I feel they should have gone this one last step. The display colors used are a decent choice, with the important information always shown in bright white so it stands out from the rest.

I measured the few extra leads I had in the box and they measure approximately 30 inches long. Sorry I missed that in the review, I agree that would be good info to have. I use this controller in the third from the bottom bay on a Thermaltake Spedo Advance full tower (it sits ON my desk) and all leads are plenty long enough.

Hi, I assume the above question was about the temperature sensors? How long is the lead that has the fan/molex connectors on the end of it? I need to know if I buy this controller whether I'll need to buy 3 pin extension cables as well, or if the included lead will be long enough for all of my fan wires to reach.

Yes the question referred to the temp probes. Again, I use the full tower Thermaltake Spedo Advance case (#benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=304&Itemid=61) and the fan controller is in the third from the bottom slot. The Spedo Advance is a huge case and has two top rear 120mm fans and all my leads reach them just fine. I just removed right case side and I see one of the fan leads reaches the whole way to the rear of my case on the backside of the motherboard.

I guess it would depend also on the length of your fan leads and fan location. I have some spare Scythe fans and Lian Li fans to compare and with their 3 pin cords measuring approximately 10" for the Scythe and 12" for the Lian Li. If your fans have at least that cord length I'd guess you'll have no issues in an at least similarly sized case or smaller.

Hi thanks for the reply, my case is a Lian-Li PC-B25F and I just checked my fan leads, they're about 14 inches long so I should be fine, thanks for your help. Now I just need to make sure the place I buy it from has the revison 2 model as I heard about people having fan noise issues with the orignal.

Turns out they stil haven't fixed the problem, I was definitely going to buy this but I've been put off now by seeing so many people complaining about the noise (not just that thread, amazon reviews and other places too) and also people saying the screen failed on them. :/